Future of X58/LGA1366

[Wingo]

I think this is a question only Nick will be able to answer. What is the future of the X58 and LGA1366 after i7? I know i5 is going onto another socket with its own chipset, with the possibility of a third for lower end Nahelm. What does this mean for LGA1366 and the X58 chipset? Will it only see Gulftown and then disappear, or will it continue to Sandy Bridge? What about all of us who purchased i7 and the expensive motherboards, will we only have a limited upgrade window before chucking our motherboards on the scrap heap? I'll finish with one more, slightly unrelated question: What will dual QPI in Gulftown mean for desktop users? WIll it have any use, or only see server use?

[NickN]

Bloomfield and Gulftown are the high end processor releases for the next 2 years. Bloomfield will be updated with their D0 stepping product very soon 950/975 (920 D0 is already out)

That has been known for quite some time.

Of course the difference in C0 and D0 is in a few minor corrections which unless one overclocks would never know are there.

Did you expect a single motherboard design to support the high end triple channel products years on end as they are released?

At this point in time all I can tell you is what I know from discussions with industry connections which will not breach any confidentiality.

Gulftown will be supported on x58/1366 with a BIOS update and will support the x58 market starting around Q1/2 of 2010. My Intel source tells me only microcode changes are required as the current VR system is all Gulftown will need. At least that is the plan. How that pans out I can not say for sure. Usually what that means is new higher instruction set may not run 100% on a earlier revision chipset board however that part of the CPU is rarely used unless the software is designed to take advantage of it. Games would not be affected by that in any way.

You will most likely not see that proc for another year.

I can not confirm the transition between Bloom and Gulf.. all I can do is tell you what I know. Intel and the MB manufactures must work that out but I should know more later in the summer

So between now and then you can change to D0 stepping if you clock and upgrade memory product to DDR3 2000.


So between Bloom and Gulf x58/1366 should be supported up through 2010/11 and given most people do not go out and buy new every year anyone who purchased x58 early (which by the way was like purchasing a race car.. latest and greatest always comes with a cost) will have that system for 3 years during which they have the ability to update.

Gulftown will however be the end of the 1366 roadmap.

As for 2x QPI, I see no issues around that. For typical desktop users it means nothing.. for clockers it may mean learning how to use it of stability. Until such time white papers and and engineering slugs are released there is not much I can say about it past that.


Although CPU advancements are always welcome what we really need is a leap in video card technology. Anyone on i7, even the first iteration, would be better served on a breakthrough in GPU tech over CPU with FSX.

[Wingo]

Thanks Nick. I wasn't expecting 1366 to be supported for years to come, but I thought it would have been like 775 where nearly every single Core 2 was on it. When I heard that the nellies were being split over different sockets I was a bit concerned that upgrade options and paths would be limited, but if we're going to have an upgrade window of about 3 years I'm not worried now.

Would Larrabee be considered a step in the direction of a leap in GPUs, or is it only going to help out in GPGPU?

[NickN]

Yes I do think Larrabee has potential but I think the game has to be written for that platform in mind, or at least to get the higher functions out of it.

We shall see how Intel approaches that.. you can keep up on Larrabee at Phil Taylors Intel blog

I dont see any potential for FSX with it.

Intel is going after the OEMs with that since it represents some pretty amazing abilities on one wafer but they have some nasty hurdles to overcome


How well Gulftown works with 1st gen x58 is really unknown until the white papers get posted (or at least released to the engineering community) Right now you know as much as I do about that. Since Intel confirmed VR support thats the main issue right there in terms of working and raw perf. The rest probably would not affect typical game markets and as long as the primary i7 functions are supported all that is needed is BIOS microcode

[Wingo]

Thanks for the info Nick, you're always a great help.